


Hospital Gowns

by Tarlan



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Character Study, Community: fanfic100, Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-04
Updated: 2007-07-04
Packaged: 2017-10-21 09:30:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/223697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney's parents loved him but did they like him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hospital Gowns

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the LJ **Fanfic100 challenge 027. Parents**

His parents must have loved each other once, enough to give up their solitary existence and become a family unit. At least, that was what he had always believed but, for a budding scientist, he had ignored all the evidence to the contrary as he grew up.

They had married out of some misguided belief that bringing an illegitimate child into the world was a cardinal sin. They had stayed together seemingly for the same reason.

Perhaps if he had been an ordinary child then things might have been better but he wasn’t. He was a child prodigy, able to absorb information like a sponge but lacking the maturity to use it wisely. He started destroying things from an early age because of his thirst to know how something worked. There was never any malice involved; just pure curiosity and an intention to put it all back together again afterwards. Except, sometimes, it never worked out like that. Mum or dad would discover him with the parts spread around him, or something broke inside while he was dismantling the object of his interest; something he couldn’t fix in time.

His parents argued a lot and, as he grew older, he knew the arguments were more about him than anything; his willful destruction; his tantrums, and his inability to be a normal child. He pulled away from them, preferring the solitude of his room and his books--and his piano lessons--to the barely concealed hostility whenever he was with them.

Then they had Jeannie, and his confusion surrounding his parents’ relationship deepened because, why have another child when they already hated the first?

Jeannie was a precocious child, every bit as destructive as he was at her age and yet they smiled when they saw her sitting within a circle of broken toaster parts. They laughed when she said outrageous but knowledgeable things to strangers and family alike, proud of her intelligence where they had scorned his.

It took the icy wastes of Siberia for him to find enough time to self-analyze and he discovered a single truth: his parents had loved him but had never liked him. They had loved Jeannie unconditionally from the moment she was born.

As he spoke, Sam Carter’s expression could only be described as both confused and horror-stricken. He could see in her eyes that it was not sympathy for his terrible childhood but that he had shared that dismal knowledge with her. Some inner sixth sense told him that her childhood had mirrored Jeannie’s rather than his and that she could see no relevance in his words. She did not want to hear his excuses for why he was so obnoxious in her eyes.

It hurt, and it took every bit of his control not to allow that to show as he fell back on his defense mechanism. It was better for her to think him insensitive, shallow and obnoxious than a freak of nature.

"Hospital gowns..."

Her expression changed from horror to irritation just as he’d hoped. She ordered him out of the infirmary while she changed back into her uniform and he wandered along to the cafeteria, deep in thought.

Colonel O'Neill was seated there alone, eating a huge chunk of what looked like chocolate cake and, in a moment of sheer lunacy, Rodney sat down opposite, uninvited.

"Please take a seat, doctor," he stated sarcastically, brown eyes narrowing in annoyance.

For once, Rodney was at a loss for what to say, especially to a member of the military responsible for saving the planet a few times already. Without thinking, he said the first thing that popped into his head.

"Did your parents like you?"

Eyebrows tinged with a little gray rose in surprise at the question. "My parents?"

"Uhm...Yes. I was just...I mentioned to Sam that my parents didn't...I mean they loved me but..."

Rodney felt his heart lurch in his chest when hard eyes softened in the compassion he had hoped to gain from Sam. There was an edge of sadness there too but O'Neill spoke before Rodney could question it.

“Yeah. They liked me. Now eat your cake and turn that massive brain to saving our asses.”

Rodney made a noncommittal noise in response and took a bite of his cake, savoring the sweetness of the rich chocolate frosting.

"And in case you were going to ask, Daniel's parents liked him too, or at least I'm sure they would have." O'Neill frowned at the cake piled on his fork, poised before his lips. "Not sure about Teal’c."

Rodney gave a half smile and took another bite, smiling back as he and O'Neill found something to bond over, even if it was only a love of chocolate cake.

Many hours later, Rodney looked on in concern as O'Neill flew the experimental X-302 towards the stars. He wasn't going to make it; the pull of gravity was too strong for the X-302's straining engines, with the weight of the Stargate dragging it back down to Earth before it could reach escape velocity.

Rodney wasn't sure who suggested the alternative to O'Neill ditching the X-302 into the ocean to slightly reduce the total annihilation of the human race on Earth. At the time he was too lost in visions of trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world without someone like O'Neill to protect him, wondering why he had started to hero-worship the man after just one piece of chocolate cake.

The naquadriah's instability might not allow them to generate and control a stable hyperspace window but they didn't need control. All they needed was to get the Stargate away from the planet before it exploded. It didn’t even have to go as far as the moon. Just a few thousand miles into space would be enough.

Sam typed quickly as she disabled the protocols built in to prevent the X-302 from flying into an unstable hyperspace window but they both knew it would not save O'Neill. Once the window formed he would have only a split second to press the eject switch and, as superhuman as O'Neill appeared to be, even he could not react that fast.

A computer could.

Rodney leaned over and typed in the commands, feeling more than hearing Sam's approval. It would still be close but at least the odds on surviving were a little more in O’Neill's favor.

***

All the chocolate cake had gone by the time he reached the cafeteria and Rodney grimaced at the lemon cake sitting in its place. With a disappointed sigh, he grabbed a coffee and turned to scan the room, trying to spot an empty table.

"McKay!"

Rodney startled as O'Neill called him over to where he sat with Sam. She frowned slightly at this sudden invitation but, for once, her eyes held no dismay as he approached. Perhaps he had a chance with her after all.

"No cake?" O'Neill frowned as he watched Rodney sit down opposite.

"Ah...deathly allergic to lemon," he stated softly and saw a slight blush on Sam's cheeks. The first time he’d come to the SGC, she’d told him to go suck a lemon, well aware of his potentially fatal allergy.

"Hmm." O'Neill stood up and walked over to the selection counter and grabbed a piece of lemon cake and another fork. He took his seat, shoving the untouched chocolate cake over to Rodney. "I like lemon cake too," he said by way of an explanation. O'Neill took a bite and paused mid-chew before swallowing the mouthful. "I had a son once. I liked _him_ too."

Rodney smiled shyly, barely noticing that Sam’s blue eyes were wide in surprise.

THE END


End file.
